Author: admin

welp, botched the fuck out of that

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Yeah, a pivotal scene and I wrote it like a ninth grader, or a cop show writer.

Grabbing someone by the lapels and screaming, “Where is he?”, like my main character is fucking Mel Gibson or Clint Eastwood, when he’s more like Buster in Arrested Development.

Jesus, I’ve let my family make me watch too many episodes of Tracker – my writing is now devolving as a result.

(For the record, Tracker is shit. The only time I was even remotely interested was the UFO episode, because I thought they might be pivoting and turning into something good, like the X-Files. Sadly, they’ve never mentioned it again.)

Target: 1500 words
Written: 2666 words, novel: Father Lightning

Read: Code And Other Laws Of Cyberspace, Lawrence Lessig (like, I see good points, but his pro-corporate copyright stance is distasteful, and his insistence on interjecting the government into everything is as well.  He claims to have made a point or taken a stance in there somewhere, but other than saying, hey, this is an issue (and it was, back then), I don't really see much of a stance on anything, other than we need more government or the magical mystery market will solve the problem, like some kind of divine hand.)
Comics: Gen 13 v2 65-67, GenActive 6
Music: The Fat Of The Land, The Prodigy

i probably shouldn’t be this angry

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Ironically, this whole Father Lightning is supposed to be teaching me about kindness.

I don’t think it’s working.

Target: 1500 words
Written: 1975 words, novel: Father Lightning

Read: Code And Other Laws Of Cyberspace, Lawrence Lessig
Comics: Gen 13: Science Friction 1, Gen 13 v2 63-64, GenActive 5
Music: Fat Music, Vol. 5: Live Fat Die Young, Anti-Flag

my doctor was supposed to call me

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But surprise, he didn’t.

Not only has he (like my doctor that retired and the various clinic/ER doctors I saw while I was without a primary care physician) ignored everything I said to him about pain and discomfort in my abdomen, doing no tests (like the others) and blowing it off “gas” (here, have a pill!), he couldn’t even be bothered to follow up on the change in blood pressure medication he gave me (which has made the situation ten times worse.)

For every Dr. Robbie or Meredith Grey, there are a thousand doctors who don’t give a fuck, for whom it’s just a job, who no longer care, or who graduated bottom of the class.

Someone had to, right?

Target: 1500 words
Written: 257 words, novel: Bad Neighbours

Read: Code And The Laws Of Cyberspace, Lawrence Lessig
Comics: GenActive 4, Gen 13 v2 61-62, Gen 13/Fantastic Four 1
Music: Fashion Nugget, Cake

thorsday

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I’m assuming that’s where that came from. Who was Wedne?

Or Tue?

This post brought to you by a lazy brain.

Target: 1500 words
Written: 281 words, novel: Father Lightning

Read: Code And Other Laws Of Cyberspace, Lawrence Lessig
Comics: Gen 13 v2 55-57, GenActive 3
Music: Famous Monsters, The Misfits

building a path

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I mean, I’m a bit off today because yesterday was St. Patrick’s and I have to get right in there and get back to work, but I’m starting to think of possibilities that might help me move forward.

I’m thinking of possibilities that might break me free of this dreary life.

This bland and weary work.

This modern malaise.

I am planning.

Picking a way forward.

Target: 1500 words
Written: 2163 words, novel: Father Lightning

Read: Code And Other Laws Of Cyberspace, Lawrence Lessig
Comics: Superman/Gen 13 2-3, Gen 13 v2 54, GenActive 2
Music: Family Tree, Bjork

happy st. birthday

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My wife was born on St. Patrick’s Day, which is a blessing and a curse.

On the plus side, it means you’ll always have people to celebrate with; on the downside, they probably aren’t celebrating you.

It’s like being born on Christmas or New Year’s Eve, but with more green, more booze and more pretending you’re Irish (I am, fuck you), when you’re actually Dutch.

Anyway, happy birthday, darling. I shudder to think what life would be without you.

Target: 1500 words
Written: 2187 words, novel: Father Lightning

Read: The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison
Comics: GenActive 1, Gen v2 52-53, Superman/Gen 13 1
Music: The Family Tree, The Ramones

it just occurred to me

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Is Jonathan Franzen going to someday read this, and call every publisher out there to blackball me?

I’m sorry, Mr. Franzen.

I take it back. It was wonderful and not at all poorly structured and written with underdeveloped characters, meaningless storylines and a deeply unsatisfying ending that inspired apathy instead of thought or emotion.

Of course, this is what apathy looks like. He might even call it a win for provoking a reaction, but I’ll tell you – this is the same reaction I had after my old roommate dragged me to both Star Wars: The Phantom Menace and the first Fast & Furious movie.

I was livid with him.

We have such short lives – why waste it on bad art?

Target: 1500 words
Written: 1549 words, novel: Father Lightning

Read: The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison
Comics: Gen 13 v2 48-51
Music: Family Man, Black Flag

sorry again

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Like, I don’t know you, Jonathan Franzen, so you could be a really nice guy. You could also be a complete dick.

I don’t mean to shit on your work. Maybe I missed something. Maybe it somehow flew over my head.

The thing is, I have a really good bullshit detector. When someone’s full of it, I pick up on it pretty damn fast. I called Donald’s rise to fascism the day he rode down that fucking escalator.

So when I see pretentious bullshit being lauded as genius, I get a little pissed.

It’s not that you can’t be a little pretentious. Look at Chuck Palahniuk or Radiohead. The difference there is that they’ve infused depth and meaning and real heart and guts into their work. It’s not just an intellectual exercise to give the appearance of infinite genius, like modern art or Moulin Rouge.

There’s a reason I’ll take the Vandals over Rush any day. And I’m Canadian.

(Rush is bullshit – there’s like two good songs, the rest is show-offy prog rock borefests. Sorry, other Canadians. You’ve got shit taste. Fuckin’ Nickelback, for Pete’s sake).

Anyway, maybe I missed the heart and guts and fun and investment and meaning of this book. Maybe you had a real vision you were passionate about.

Unfortunately, it still comes across like a rough idea that you tried to flesh out in the middle of writing it, but couldn’t keep track and then realized a lot of shit didn’t matter, characters didn’t behave how you needed them to behave and rather than going back and editing to make it all work, you just got bored of it and said fuck it. You even put your lack of care and abandonment of the idea in the book.

You were the voting public, who barely turned up and didn’t give a shit.

So why should we?

Did I just crack the riddle of what people saw in it?

Five hundred pages of poorly written setup, just to give up?

This reminds me of the time I watched No Country For Old Men and it was all build up, and then just ended, abruptly, pointlessly, in a monstrous letdown.

And the Coen brothers I like.

Target: 1500 words
Written: 436 words, novel: Father Lightning

Read: The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison
Comics: Gen 13 v2 45-47, Gen 13: A Christmas Caper 1
Music: The Fallout, Default